Support Center

Manual VPN Setup for Windows 7

Click the 'Start' or 'Windows' button in the lower-left hand corner of your screen, then navigate your mouse to the 'Control Panel' item and click.

Locate the 'Network and Internet' category, mouse over the heading, and click.

Point the mouse cursor on the 'Network and Sharing Center' item, and click.

Under the heading labeled 'Change your networking settings', click on the item labeled 'Set up a new connection or network'.

With your mouse, select the third item in the list, labeled 'Connect to a workplace' - click the 'Next' button on the lower-right corner of the panel, to the left of the 'Cancel' button.

*NOTE* - This menu may appear if you have previously configured any other custom connections in the 'Network and Sharing Center'. If you do not see this panel, please move on to the next step. Otherwise, select the radio button labeled 'No, create a new connection', and continue forward with the 'Next' button on the bottom as before.

Mouse over the first item on this panel, labeled 'Use my Internet connection (VPN)', and click.

For the 'Internet address' field, fill in the Usenetserver hostname you've selected from our list of available hosts. For the 'Destination name' field, you may enter whatever you wish - this is a descriptor of the connection. Of the three unticked options below, only the last needs to be activated - check the box labeled 'Don't connect now, just set it up so I can connect later'. Move to the next step after clicking the 'Next' button.

Confirm your username and password from the confirmation email sent to you at sign-up, and enter both in the corresponding fields on this form - please keep in mind that you need to add @usenetserver to the end of your username (ex. username@usenetserver), and our authentication system is case-sensitive. If you'd like to save your password, check the second checkbox below, labeled 'Remember this password'. Do not fill the 'Domain' field. Click the 'Create' button in the lower-right corner to continue.

More configuration is necessary, so connecting now would potentially error out - you will need to mouse over to the 'Close' button on the lower-right corner of the panel and click to continue.

Back in the 'Network and Sharing Center', look for the link second from the top of the sidebar on the left side of the panel - the link is labeled, 'Change adapter settings'. Click this link to continue.

Look for the connection you made earlier, right click on the icon, mouse down to the 'Properties' item, and click your mouse to continue.

Confirm the hostname from our list, and continue on to the 'Security' tab, clicking on corresponding tab indicator at the top of the panel.

Click the drop-down box labeled 'Type of VPN', and mouse or arrow-key down to the 'Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)' selection. No additional configuration should be required on this page, however under the 'Allow these protocols' radio button, confirm that only the 'CHAP', and 'MS-CHAP v2' items are checked off.

Continue forward to the 'Networking' tab by clicking the tab of the same name near the top of the panel. In the center frame on this panel, uncheck the 'TCP/IPv6' and 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks' items. You may confirm your changes by hitting the 'OK' button on the lower-right side of the panel.

To test your settings and login credentials, point your cursor to the 'Notification Area', usually located near the lower-right hand corner of your screen. In this area, look for icon of a computer with a cord and plug along the side and click it. Find the connection made earlier, and click the 'Connect' button directly to the right.

Confirm your username for accuracy, then click the 'Connect' button in the bottom-left corner of this panel. After 30 seconds or so, confirm the connectivity status by opening the 'Notification Area' popup in your taskbar - you will be notified of any problems with the connection, in which case you will want to contact our support team. Once you have verified connectivity to the VPN, you can now have peace of mind that your online activities are secured from prying eyes.

First, click the 'Start' or 'Windows' button in the lower left hand corner of your screen, and proceed to the 'Control Panel'.

Locate the 'Network and Internet' category, mouse over the heading, and click.

Point the mouse cursor on the 'Network and Sharing Center' item, and click.

Under the heading labeled 'Change your networking settings', click on the item labeled 'Set up a new connection or network'.

With your mouse, select the third item in the list, labeled 'Connect to a workplace' - click the 'Next' button on the lower right corner of the panel, to the left of the 'Cancel' button.

*NOTE* This menu may appear if you have previously configured any other custom connections in the 'Network and Sharing Center'. If you do not see this panel, please move on to the next step. Otherwise, select the radio button labeled 'No, create a new connection', and continue forward with the 'Next' button on the bottom as before.

Fill in the UsenetServer server name of the server you wish to use. A list of available servers, located here.

For the 'Destination name' field, you may enter whatever you wish; this is a descriptor of the connection. Of the three unchecked options listed, only the last needs to be activated. Check the box labeled 'Don't connect now, just set it up so I can connect later' then click 'Next'.

For the 'Internet address' field, fill in the Usenetserver hostname or IP address you'd like to connect to. For the 'Destination name' field, you may enter whatever you wish - this is a descriptor of the connection. Of the three un-checked options below, only the last needs to be activated - check the box labeled 'Don't connect now, just set it up so I can connect later'. Move to the next step after clicking the 'Next' button.

Confirm your username and password from the confirmation email sent to you at sign-up, and enter both in the corresponding fields on this form - please keep in mind that you need to add @usenetserver to the end of your username (ex. username@usenetserver), and our authentication system is case-sensitive. If you'd like to save your password, check the second checkbox below, labeled 'Remember this password'. Do not fill the 'Domain' field. Click the 'Create' button in the lower-right corner to continue.

More configuration is necessary, so connecting now would potentially error out - you will need to mouse over to the 'Close' button on the lower-right corner of the panel and click to continue.

Back in the 'Network and Sharing Center', look for the link second from the top of the sidebar on the left side of the panel - the link is labeled, 'Change adapter settings'. Click this link to continue. *Outline or highlight link/item 'Change adapter settings'.

Look for the connection you made earlier, right click on the icon, mouse down to the 'Properties' item and click your mouse to continue.

Confirm the hostname from our list, and continue on to the 'Security' tab, clicking on corresponding tab indicator at the top of the panel.

Click the drop-down box labeled 'Type of VPN', and mouse or arrow-key down to the 'Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol with IPsec (L2TP)' selection. No additional configuration should be required on this page, however under the 'Allow these protocols' radio button, confirm that only the 'CHAP', and 'MS-CHAP v2' items are checked off.

Next, click on the 'Advanced settings' button, which is directly below the drop-down described in the previous step.

In the 'Advanced settings' pop-up panel, confirm that the radio button labeled 'Use preshared key for authentication' is selected, and place your cursor in the corresponding 'Key' field. Enter 'vpn' (without the quotes) as the preshared key, and then click the 'OK' button below.

Continue forward to the 'Networking' tab by clicking the tab of the same name near the top of the panel. In the center frame on this panel, uncheck the 'TCP/IPv6' and 'File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks' items. You may confirm your changes by hitting the 'OK' button on the lower-right side of the panel.

To test your settings and login credentials, point your cursor to the 'Notification Area', usually located near the lower-right hand corner of your screen. In this area, look for icon of a computer with a cord and plug along the side and click it. Find the connection made earlier, and click the 'Connect' button directly to the right.

Verify your username to ensure an accurate entry, then click the 'Connect' button in the bottom-left corner of this panel. After 30 seconds or so, verify the connectivity status by opening the 'Notification Area' pop-up in your taskbar - you will be notified of any problems with the connection, in which case you will want to contact our support team. Once you have confirmed connectivity to the VPN service, you can now have peace of mind that your activities are secured from 'prying eyes'.

Click the 'Start' or 'Windows' button in the lower-left hand corner of your screen, click the 'Search programs and files' field. Enter 'Mozilla Firefox' or enter the name of your favorite web browser - hit the 'Enter' key or click the resulting link to continue.
**NOTE: This tutorial assumes that Mozilla Firefox is the default web browser - if you are using IE or Chrome, some of these steps may need to be slightly modified depending on how download links are handled

In the URL bar of your web browser, browse to the UsenetServer Config Index. You may download the entire config library or a single config file. The last three letters before the extension '.ovpn' indicate the locale of the server - for example, nyc.a01.ovpn points to New York City. After making your selection, point your cursor to the corresponding link and click to continue.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox with default settings and extensions, you should see the dialog below - confirm the 'Save File' radio button is selected, and click the 'OK' button. If the 'Downloads' progress window appears, click back to the web browser and move on to the next step.

Next, point your web browser to the OpenVPN Community Downloads page. Download and install version 2.3.4. After making your selection of which version to use, click the given link. In the resulting dialog, click the 'Save File' button to continue.

Start the OpenVPN client installation process by locating the executable file in the browser's 'Downloads'. To locate this panel click the 'Firefox' menu button in the upper-left corner of the browser window. Locate the 'Downloads' item in the resulting context menu, and click to continue. Once the Downloads panel is open, click the item to select, then right click to open a context menu. Within this context menu, locate the 'Open' item and click it to continue.

Depending on your user privileges or operating system settings, you may or may not see a dialog popup. The installation requires Administrative rights to continue - confirm this request by clicking the 'Continue' button. If a username and password are requested, enter the credentials for an Administrator account. Hit the 'Continue' button and move on to the next step.

Once the OpenVPN Client installation has begun, click the 'Next >' button on the first step to continue.

Read through the terms of use and agree to those terms by clicking the 'I Agree' button at the bottom of the pane, then move on to the next step.

No changes need to be made to the installation options, however you may want to scroll through and confirm that each item is ticked. All available install options will ensure that the tutorial can be successfully completed. Move on to the next step after the 'Next >' button is clicked.

Confirm the contents of the 'Destination Folder' field - in most cases, the default option will suffice. For those with external devices plugged in, double-check to confirm that the installer isn't trying to place the destination directory on your external device. Click the 'Install' button to continue to the next step.

As the the OpenVPN client installs, you may notice a brief pause as the the TAP driver is installed. If a 'Windows Security' dialog pops up during this portion of the install, simply click the 'Continue' button or enter your login credentials as indicated in step 6. Once the 'TAP DRIVER' installation finishes, the progress bar will inch forward and finally complete. Move on to the next step once further input is required.

Once all of the required files and components have been successfully installed, the installer application will indicate this status with a 'Completed' label above the progress bar. Move on to the next step by clicking the 'Next >' button.

On the last page of the installer, you may untick the checkbox labeled 'Show Readme'. If you'd like to consult the official documentation, feel free to leave the box ticked before finally clicking the 'Finish' button in the bottom-right corner of the panel. Move on once the installer has terminated.

Back on your Desktop, locate the newly created 'OpenVPN GUI' icon, and execute it by right-clicking and selecting the 'Open' item. Alternatively, you may double-click the icon to execute the GUI. You will not immediately see a dialog or new window, however take notice of the new icon in the taskbar in the lower-right corner of your screen. The desktop icon and taskbar icon are similarly styled, however the taskbar icon will have a red shading by default. Once the GUI is running, move on to the next step.

Again, like in the first step, locate the Windows 'Start Menu' button, and click it - then find the 'Search programs and files' field and click into it. Enter 'Downloads' into the search field and click the resulting 'Downloads' item above to continue to the next step.

For this step, the contents of the 'uns_configs.zip' file, obtained previously in step two, will need to be extracted into the OpenVPN configuration directory. If you downloaded the file to a location other than the default 'Downloads' folder, please move to that location to proceed further. Once in view, select the 'uns_configs.zip' file with a single click. Near the top end of the window, under the location and search bar, look for the 'Open' button. Click this button and continue to the next step.

Again, find the tool menu below the search and location fields, and click the button labeled 'Extract all files'. After the resulting dialog appears, move to the next step.

Within the 'Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders' window, locate the destination folder field - to the right, find the 'Browse' button, and click it to continue.

Within the resulting 'Select a destination' dialog, drop down through the menus until the 'config' directory, under the the 'OpenVPN' folder, is selected. Alternatively, the full path, 'C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config', can be manually entered into the destination field in the previous window. If entering the destination by hand, or via the copy/paste functions, click the 'Cancel' button, enter the destination and continue to the next step. Those who are following the tutorial to the word may click the 'OK' button after the destination has been chosen.

Now back in the previous window, confirm your previous selection in the destination field before continuing. Untick the checkbox labeled 'Show extracted files when complete', and click the 'Extract' button: this action may trigger privilege escalation, read all pop-up dialogs carefully.

In the corresponding 'Destination Folder Access Denied' dialog, click the 'Continue' button. To confirm this decision, click the second 'Continue' button in the resulting 'Permissions Request' dialog, then move on to the next step.

After the progress bar indicates the completion of the extraction process, point your cursor to the 'OpenVPN GUI' icon in taskbar on the lower-right corner of your desktop. Right-click the 'OpenVPN GUI' icon, and locate the desired server configuration in the resulting context menu. Mouse over the selected config/server so the pop-out menu appears, then locate and click the 'Connect' item to move on to the next step.

Enter your login information into the 'OpenVPN - User Authentication' dialog exactly you provided it to us at sign-up. Our authentication servers require you to add @usenetserver to the end of your username (ex.username@usenetserver). Also keep in mind our authentication system is case-sensitive, and a single mis-capitalized letter will result in an error message.

Once you have entered your credentials and hit the 'OK' button, you may notice status messages scrolling through the 'OpenVPN Console'. When the secure tunnel is finally established, the console will disappear, and the status indicator will appear in your notification area. If any error or warning messages appear, take note of them; look for the 'connected' message above the 'Assigned IP'. Take this opportunity to test the connection by opening your favorite web site or by checking your email. Through the secure OpenVPN tunnel, have the assurance that your online activities are not being monitored by prying eyes.